Richard Sapper (1932 - 2015) was born in Munich, Germany, and graduated with a business degree from the University of Munich.  He began his design career in the styling department of Mercedes Benz in Stuttgart, before transferring to Milan in 1958 to work with the architect Gio Ponti and in the design division of La Rinascente department store.  In the early 1960s, Sapper began to collaborate with the Italian architect Marco Zanuso.  Renowned for their mutual aesthetic of sculptural minimalism, they developed a series of televisions and radios for Brionvega, the lightweight K1340 stacking children's chair for Kartell and the compact folding Grillo telephone for Siemens/Italtel.  Upon starting his own independent studio in 1959, Sapper designed the Static clock for Lorenz, which won him his first Compasso d'Oro award in 1960.  Sapper continued to create design classics including the iconic Tizio table lamp for Artemide (1972) - one of the first desk lamps using halogen bulbs with low-voltage current-conducting arms that eliminate the need for wires.  Richard Sapper's designs are included in the permanent collections of numerous museums worldwide.  In 2012, Sapper received the Merit Cross of the Order of Merit from the President of the Federal Republic of Germany. In 2014, he received the Compasso d'Oro lifetime achievement award from the Associazione Design Industriale ADI.